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Volunteers from the League of Friends charity have bolstered the life-saving services provided in St Helier Hospital’s Acute Medical Unit (AMU), raising funds to donate a portable ultrasound machine worth £31,130.

The state-of-the-art equipment means that our clinical staff can get crystal clear scans of a patient at their bedside faster than ever before.

Dr Dilip Shah, the lead consultant in AMU, said that he and his colleagues were delighted to receive the equipment, which uses ultrasound to create an image in a manner similar to that of a bat or a submarine:

“This really is a fantastic piece of kit that will enable us to check for potential problems in soft tissue structures, such as the liver, kidneys, pancreas and bladder, by creating ultrasound images right at our patients’ bedsides.

“What this means is that very often we’ll be able to quickly detect any underlying problems, allowing us to make a fast but accurate diagnosis  to take action and prevent the patient staying in hospital any longer than they need to.

 “We understand that people don’t really want to stay in hospital any longer than is necessary; we always want to live by our values and put our patients first, and this equipment will allow us to do just that by reducing the time our patients need to stay in AMU.”

League of Friends Chairman, Val Brundle, said she was proud to help the hospital:

“We’re pleased to be donating this equipment to help further the fantastic care that our clinical teams provide. All of the work we do is funded by donations and powered by volunteers, so we’re always on the lookout for more people to get involved volunteering or help make a contribution towards our work.”

Over the years, the League of Friends have raised millions of pounds through various fundraising activities which has gone towards purchasing important medical equipment, as well as non-essential extras that make hospital life for both patients and staff more comfortable.